Method and apparatus for perforating and painting the surface of pavements



June 18, 1963 v c. B. PATTON 3,094,047

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PERFORATING AND PAINTING THE SURFACE OF PAVEMENTS Filed Oct. 21, 1958 s'lzs 63 6/ INVENTOR. CHARLES E. PATTON United States Patent 3,094,047 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PERFORATING AND PAINTING THE SURFACE OF PAVEMENTS Charles B. Patton, 103 Beekleywood Blvd., Dallas, Tex. Filed Oct. 21, 1958, Ser. No. 768,794 3 Claims. (Cl. 94-45) This invention relates generally to construction machinery, and more particularly to a device for implementing highway construction and maintenance programs.

A primary object of this invention is to provide a method and a device for preparing an area of surface material to receive a coat of paint or similar surface treatment composition.

Another object is to provide a device which is capable of preparing a center stripe area for subsequent painting by the action of perforating the surface of the street or highway pavement.

And a further object is to provide a method of imparting a perforation to a surface which employs the steps of vertically positioning a series of individual punches and then applying a repetitive series of impacts to the punches.

And yet another obgiect is to provide a device for delivering impacts to a road bed surface by moving an impacting tool into range of a rapidly rotating earn wheel, to prepare the roadbed surface for subsequent paving operations.

And still another object is to provide a method of treating, painting, and drying the center stripe on a highway simultaneously and under the control of a single operator.

And another object is to provide a machine having a combination of structures necessary to simultaneously perforate the pavement throughout the entire area to form the center stripe, and to clean the perforated area, and to apply paint to this area by rollers and then to accelerate the drying of the paint so that in effect a single driver may approach the area to be center striped and perform all of the operations required and leave a finished center stripe as his moving machine travels continuously down the highway.

An additional object is to provide an extremely effective and yet economical pavement perforating device and one which is rugged in construction and durable in opera tion.

These and other objects and [advantages will be apparent from an examination of the following specification and drawings in which:

FIG. 1 represents a top plan view of the complete center striping machine for highway use.

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the machine of 4 FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a detail front elevational view of the pavement perforating drum detached from the machine of FIG. 1,

unit detached.

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary cross sectional view taken through a highway pavement which has been perforated and painted by the machine of this invention.

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary plan view of a center stripe of a highway which was perforated and painted taken after an indefinite period of wear.

FIG. 10 is a plan view similar to FIG. 9 wherein the perforations were made with a modified embodiment of the punch unit of this invention.

FIG. 11 is across sectional view through the reflecting bead dispensing unit of the invention.

' FIG. 12 is a detail end view of the unit of FIG. 11 and its engaging clutch.

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on the drawing it will be observed that the complete center striping machine, identified at 2, com prises basically a frame 3 supported from the ground by a pair of steerable drive wheels 4, and a single front nonsteenable guide wheel 6; and the following components for providing the desired operation to this machine; an engine and drive unit 7, generator 8, perforating drum assembly 9, a suction cleaner 10, a paint applying unit 11, a paint drying unit 12, a steering assembly 13, and an operators seat 14.

The function of the machine 2 is basically to permit an operator to drive the machine down the center of a highway and both prepare the surface of the highway to receive a permanent coat of paint, and apply the coat of paint to form the center stripe down the highway. It is known to be exceedingly expensive to paint this center stripe down a highway surface and it disrupts traffic on each occurrence, and very oiten right after the painting operation is complete, some motorist will cross over the painted stripe and spoil the paint job at that location. But the biggest cost relating to the application of a center stripe down a highway is not the initial application since that occurs only once, but rather is the continuous maintenance required in repainting this same stripe every few months due to its wearing down and fading out under heavy traffic. It is therefore among the objects of this invention to completely eliminate the necessity of painting a center stripe down a highway more than once by applying the initial point by a method which will render it wear-proof. This is accomplished by the method and apparatus disclosed herein which actually permits the paint to be applied beneath the wearing surface of the highway in a series of closely spaced dots which appear from a short distance to be a continuous line similar to the present center stripe, but at any distance serve the same purpose as the present solid width center stripe. It wil be apparent that paint on the top surface of a road will be subject to wear due to auto tires passing over it and compressing and abrading it between the tire and the road; it will also be apparent that if this paint is recessed below the top wearing surface of the road, as when it fills small indentations, it is not subject to Wear since the tire will only be able to come into contact with a very small volume of the paint and its external appearance will not be afiected even if this small volume is completely removed.

A typical operation of the machine 2 may be described as follows: The operator will start the engine and drive unit 7 (including the usual conventional controls, not shown) and guide the machine 2 to cause the guide wheel 6 to be in alignment either with anold center stripe C, or with markers installed to locate a new center stripe. As the machine 2 moves down the highway after being so aligned and guided, the perforating drum assembly 9 is placed into operation by first lowering the assembly 9 and frame 3 and then by engaging a conventional pulley-toshaft 21 and apply a rapid series of impacts against the punch units 22 in a manner hereinafter described, after the punch units 22 have effectively perforated the pavement, the suction cleaner 10 removes the chips and dust so that the pavement surface is ready to receive the paint, usually yellow or white which is then applied from tank 23 and hose 24 to the first roller 25 which is narrower than the second roller 26 which is itself the width of the proposed center stripe C. After the paint has been applied so that it completely fills the cavities or perforations P, it will form a very thin continuous surface layer S which aces-ps7 will be immediately dried by an infrared or ultra-violet lamp 23 in the electrical drying unit 12. This drying operation will protect the surface from being smeared and allow the paint in the cavities P to harden in the time nec sary. The operator in seat 14 may glance down between his legs and observe the immediate results of this center stripe painting operation as the machine 2 travels forward; he may also keep the machine 2 lined up accurately at all times by simply sighting over the center of his steering post of steering assembly 13 and over the center of his guide wheel 6 (or centrally between the actuators 33) and causing these two points to coincide with the old center stripe C or with the markers (not shown). The operator may raise or lower the frame 3 relative to the front guide wheel 6 by engaging an electric actuator 36 which raises or lowers the threaded shaft 31 which contains the bearing housing 32 that rotatably supports the shaft 33 of the guide wheel 6; this action places in or removes the punch units 22 from contact with the pavement surface S.

Examining the perforating drum assembly 9 in more detail in FIGS. 3-5 it will be seen that it is rigidly attached to the frame 3 by a bearing support block 35 which encloses a shaft bushing 36 and abuts a circular bearing plate 37 and is rigidly fastened thereto by a capscrew 38 which ties the frame 3, block 35 and bearing plate 37 and bushing 36 into a fixed relationship. The cam shaft 21 extends through the bushing 36 and there- -beyond its cross section changes from round to square so that the earns 49 installed thereon will turn directly with the shaft 21. The drum housing is made up of a series of plates 41 and 4-2, the latter being installed between the end plates 41 and bolted together by through bolts 43. The end plates 41 are made of any suitable rigid material and are adapted to rotate in direct contact with the rim circumference of bearing plate 37 which is itself made of a suitable bearing material. One such combination of materials would be 1020 steel for the end plates 41 and Oilite bronze for the bearing plate 37. The cam shaft would be made of Stressproof steel or 4615 or other tough steel while the punch units 22 and cams would be case hardened after fabrication to increase their wear life. It may be desirable to install a roll 45 of solid lubricant (graphite or wax type) on a shaft 46 of end plates 41 for the purpose of providing a thin film of lubricant between the lobes 4-8 of the cam and the top of punch unit 22 to eliminate a direct metalto-metal contact reduce wear therebetween.

The punch units 22 are generally cylindrical in shape having a circumferential surface 50 which is adapted to move radially in a recess 51 of the intermediate plates 42. A square boss 52 in each recess 51 cooperates with a groove 53 in the surface 5%) of the punch unit 22 so that while the punch unit is permitted free radial movement relative to the recess 51, it is prevented from falling out at either end thereof. The lower end of punch unit 22 has a conical point 54 which will penetrate the pavement surface S to a sufficient depth to form the cavity P. When the pulley clutch 26 is engaged and pulley 55 is driven by belt 56 of engine unit 7, the shaft 21, is caused to rotate at a fast speed and turn cams it? so that for each revolution of shaft 21, the top 56 of punch unit 22 is hammered four times by the lobes 48. Each of the five punch units 22 which are vertical at the same time will receive such a repetition of impacts, but each of the earns 46 are staggered so that no two lobes l8 are hitting one of the five punch units at the same instant which will reduce vibration and provide for better operation. Of course, once a punch unit 22 has been rotated by the drum plate 42 until it is no longer vertical and in engagement with the pavement, it will not continue to receive blows from the lobes 43. This latter feature is accomplished by the offset mounting of the shaft brushing 36 from the center of rotation R of the drum assembly In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the same end plates 41 are employed, but the intermediate plates 142 have radial recesses 151 which extend straight through without interruption by a boss such as 52. The punch units 122 are then held in place by a through rod 152 which cooperates with aligned holes 66) in plates 142 and with grooves 153 in the punch units 122. The point end of punch unit 122 is formed by drilling a hole 61 through a double length rod in a direction transverse to the groove 153 and separating the two now formed punch units and dressing the cutting surface 63. When a perforating drum assembly 109' employing the modified punch unit 122 is passed over a highway surface it will leave a series of perforations as shown in FIG. 10, as contrasted to the circular perforations as shown in FIG. 9. Both perforations however, will provide a permanent point cavity similar to P as shown in FIG. 8.

A partition in the structure of tank 23 provides a reservoir for a suply of microscopic sized reflecting glass beads 76 which are fed through a chute 77 out a nozzle 78 to comingle with the fresh paint behind roller 26, so that in addition to providing a permanently painted stripe C, the device 2 will also provide a permanently reflecting stripe C. This structure is shown in detail in FIG. 11, and is seen to include a bead feeder Wheel 79 having a series of projecting vanes 86 to feed the beads 76 evenly out onto the stripe C. Wheel 79 is connected through the chute 77 to a pulley 81 which is driven from a drive pulley 82 which is attached integrally with the drive wheel 4 by means of a drive belt 83. In FIG. 12 it will be seen that the shaft 84 actually connects to one half of the clutch pulley 81, and the engagement or disengagement of the clutch pulley is controlled by a lever 85 operated by the driver, so that during periods of travel other than the actual painting operation, there will be no loss of beads 76. Pivot 85 permits this operation and the lever 85 may be spring loaded (not shown) in its disengage position. The vanes d0 will of course prevent leakage in any position in which they are stopped.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that there has been produced a device which substantially fulfills the objects of the invention as set forth herein. The invention is not limited to the exemplary constructions herein shown and described, but may be made in many ways within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A stripe forming machine comprising in combination: a frame, means for propelling said frame along a relatively hard highway surface, an impacting drum assembly mounted on said frame, a multiplicity of reciprocating impact punch units extending radially from said drum assembly, means for slidably mounting said punch units upon said drum assembly for movement within predetermined limits, means mounted within said drum assembly for reciprocating the punch units in the lower area of said drum assembly which are in contact with the hardened surface whereby said surface is continuously impacted with sufficient force to form a string of individual indented perforations in said surface as said frame is propelled thereacross, air cleaning means on said frame rearward of said impacting drum assembly for cleaning the individual indented perforations formed in the surface by said impacting drum assembly, paint applying means on said frame rearward of said cleaning means for filling said perforations with paint to form a permanently visible stripe on said surface which is composed at least in part of slugs of paint inlaid below the normal wearing surface of the highway.

2. A stripe forming machine as in claim 1, which comprises additional means on said frame rearward of said paint applying means for rapidly drying the painted stripe to permit immediate use of said surface after said stripe forming machine has travelled thereacross, and power means for raising and lowering said frame and impacting drum assembly as a unit for moving said impacting drum assembly into and out of contact with said surface.

3. The stripe forming machine of claim 2 wherein said additional means for rapidly drying the painted stripe includes radiation producing means mounted upon said,

\firame rearwamd of said paint applying means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Ross June 22, 1875 Smales July 2, 1907 

1. A STRIPE FORMING MACHINE COMPRISING IN COMBINATION: A FRAME, MEANS FOR PROPELLING SAID FRAME ALONG A RELATIVELY HARD HIGHWAY SURFACE, AN IMPACTING DRUM ASSEMBLY MOUNTED ON SAID FRAME, A MULTIPLICITY OF RECIPROCATING IMPACT PUNCH UNITS EXTENDING RADIALLY FROM SAID DRUM ASSEMBLY, MEANS FOR SLIDABLY MOUNTING SAID PUNCH UNITS UPON SAID DRUM ASSEMBLY FOR MOVEMENT WITHIN PREDETERMINED LIMITS, MEANS MOUNTED WITHIN SAID DRUM ASSEMBLY FOR RECIPROCATING THE PUNCH UNITS IN THE LOWER AREA OF SAID DRUM ASSEMBLY WHICH ARE IN CONTACT WITH THE HARDENED SURFACE WHEREBY SAID SURFACE IS CONTINUOUSLY IMPACTED WITH SUFFICIENT FORCE TO FORM A STRING OF INDIVIDUAL INDENTED PERFORATIONS IN SAID SURFACE AS SAID IS PROPELLED THEREACROSS, AIR CLEANING MEANS ON SAID FRAME REARWARD OF SAID IMPACTING DRUM ASSEMBLY FOR CLEANING THE INDIVIDUAL INDENTED PERFORATIONS FORMED IN THE SURFACE BY SAID IMPACTING DRUM ASSEMBLY, PAINT APPLYING MEANS ON SAID FRAME REARWARD OF SAID CLEANING MEANS FOR FILLING SAID PERFORATIONS WITH PAINT TO FORM A PERMANENTLY VISIBLE STRIPE ON SAID SURFACE WHICH IS COMPOSED AT LEAST IN PART OF SLUGS OF PAINT INLAID BELOW THE NORMAL WEARING SURFACE OF THE HIGHWAY. 